This is something I came up with a while ago, but I just recently though 'hey, this is developed enough to actually write!' So, here ya go, kids, please enjoy!
Okay, maybe not the animal cruelty part, but you know what I mean...
WARNING: SEVERE ANIMAL ABUSE. I assure you, the deer dies soon after it's witnessed ordeal.
He knew he wasn't supposed to be out this late, but the same went for his brother. They would both be in trouble with Grandfather if they were caught.
Still...
A rustling in the bushes made him freeze, but a small fox was the only thing that appeared. He sighed, going back to tracking his twin. Swallowing, he tried to remember everything that horrid girl had told him about stealth - try as he might, he could not deny that she was the only one who ever had any luck sneaking up on someone as powerful has his brother. He peered carefully through the moon shadows of the trees, hoping to see his brother.
This was the sixth night in a row he had seen his twin sneak out the front door of the manor into the darkness, and now, he was determined to find out what he was doing, for better or worse.
Suddenly, he felt the familiar prickling that usually alerted him to his brother's presence rose in his chest, and he put even more focus into silence. There was a clearing in the trees just ahead, and the moonlight streamed in, illuminating it as clearly as the sun would. He moved forward carefully, staying in the dense foliage and trying to find a place to peek through. Finally, he came across a hiding spot beside a large tree, and risked a look through a hole in some leaves.
What he saw there made him sick.
The grass was slick with blood, and little piles of bones and what he thought were animal corpses littered the ground, glistening revoltingly in the light. At the centre of the round clearing was a deer that was still in it's death throes, it's cries piteous and weak. There was something, a dark figure, looming over it, angled just so that it fell into shadow in the intense moonlight. As he watched, something sharp glittered in the figure's grip, and then the hand was brought in a quick line across the deer's stomach, blood oozing from the cut. The animal cried out in pain, and the figure laughed, laughed, seemingly enjoying it's agony. When he heard the harsh, bone-chilling laugh, he couldn't hold back a small gasp.
Unfortunately, the sound did not go unnoticed.
The figure's head snapped up, and it rose, taking a step towards his hiding spot. It's hands and front were covered in blood, as was the knife it held. But it was the face that scared him - cold, hateful eyes and malicious, unsympathetic expression. On his face.
On his twin brother's face.
He didn't wait to see more. He turned and fled, faster than he had ever gone in his life. If she had been there, he was certain he could have outpaced her many times over, just to get away from that glade and the sight of his... His...
He didn't know what he was anymore.
While he made it home without incident, his sleep was fitful and filled with nightmares of dying, tortured creatures and blood. So much blood. When the sun broke through his window the next morning, he had barely slept at all, and was still rubbing his eyes when he sat up, stumbling out of bed to the mirror that hung from his wall. But once his vision cleared there, he saw something on the floor behind him that made his face go pale, and he turned slowly to see if it was really there.
On his bedroom floor, bloodied and mangled, was the fox he had seen the night before.
The message was clear - his brother had seen him, had known it was him, and was not afraid to threaten him to keep his silence. Something clenched in his stomach. They were just children, boys. What could his twin really do to him if he went to Grandfather? But to betray his own brother... He closed his eyes against the image of the dying deer, hugging himself tightly. By the time he heard the servants calling for him, he had made his decision.
It was a choice Byakuya Kuchiki would regret for the rest of his life.
Word to the wise - you figure out that your brother is a fledgling psychopath and torturing animals? TELL SOMEONE. PLEASE. There's a good reader. Anyway, here's the prologue. Chapter One will be up in a bit, not to worry.